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Broccoli Cashew Salad with Apples, Pears, and Cranberries is tossed with the most delicious homemade creamy salad dressing. This is an easy and healthy recipe packed with fruits and veggies.
The salad has an amazing texture thanks to the crunchy cashews, fresh vegetables, and fruits! The easy creamy salad dressing is made with mayonnaise, sour cream (or kefir or Greek yogurt), honey, and lemon juice! If you love broccoli salad, be sure to check out these 2 delicious salads: broccoli bacon salad and creamy broccoli and cauliflower salad.
This broccoli cashew salad is a healthy recipe that you can make any time of the year, but especially during the winter season to get a boost of antioxidants, vitamins, and fiber! It's easy-to-make, and it keeps well refrigerated. A great choice for family weeknight dinners, barbecues, potlucks, and parties!
Salad dressing
Whenever I make a broccoli salad, I love combining mayo and sour cream together for a creamy salad dressing and it's a lovely flavor combination! If you don't like sour cream (or don't have it), feel free to use kefir or Greek yogurt in place of sour cream for an equally good flavor! I also add lemon juice, honey, and salt. Make sure to soften the honey (by heating it up gently) before adding it to other salad dressing ingredients, to make sure it blends in smoothly.
How to make broccoli cashew salad
Broccoli salad is all about chopping up the fresh veggies and fruits and then combining them in a large bowl with a salad dressing. That's it!
- Cut broccoli into small, bite-sized pieces.
- Chop up a cored apple, cored pear, red onion.
- In a large bowl, combine chopped up broccoli, apples, pear, red onions, cranberries, and cashews.
- In a small bowl, stir together mayonnaise, sour cream (or kefir or Greek yogurt), lemon juice, honey, and salt. Tip: honey should be soft and runny. Warm it up if needed, so that it mixes easily.
- Add in the dressing and stir everything together.
Variations and substitutions
- Cauliflower. If you want to mix things up, use an equal amount of cauliflower to replace the half amount of broccoli.
- Nuts. Many types of nuts will work here. Use pecans, peanuts, walnuts, pine nuts, or pistachios instead of cashews.
- Dried fruit. Dried cranberries work great in this recipe, and so do dried cherries, raisins, or dried blueberries.
- Fresh Fruit. The mix of fresh apples and pears works beautifully here, but you can go just with apples or just with pears.
- Salad dressing. For the salad dressing, combine together mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon juice, honey, and salt. You can lighten up the dressing by replacing some of the mayo or sour cream with kefir or Greek yogurt.
Other Broccoli Salad Recipes to Try
Broccoli Cashew Salad with Apples and Pears
Ingredients
Salad:
- 5 cups broccoli florets chopped into small bites
- 1 large apple cored and diced
- 1 large pear (firm, not soft), cored and diced
- ¼ cup red onion diced
- 1 cup cashews toasted or roasted
- 1 cup dried cranberries
Creamy Salad Dressing:
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ½ cup sour cream or kefir or Greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- ¼ cup honey softened or warmed up
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine together chopped broccoli, diced apple, diced pear, diced red onion, cashews (toasted or roasted) and dried cranberries.
- In a small bowl, stir together mayonnaise, sour cream (or kefir or Greek yogurt), lemon juice, honey, and salt. Note that honey should be soft and runny, warm it up if needed, so that it mixes easily. Whisk the ingredients until well combined and smooth. Add salt if needed.
- Add the dressing to the broccoli salad and stir everything together.
Notes
- How to roast raw cashews. I used raw cashews for this recipe, and I toasted them in the oven. Roast raw cashews in the preheated oven at 350 F on a rimmed baking sheet for 10 minutes or longer. Unlike other nuts, cashews can take more than 10 minutes to get roasted. They should change color and turn rich golden brown. Depending on your oven and your oven settings, that can take between 10 and 15 minutes (or even up to 20 minutes in some ovens). Move them around once or twice so that they roast evenly on all sides. You can also purchase pre-roasted cashews - they do not need roasting.
- Pears. Choose pears that are firmer in texture and to the touch. Otherwise, they might get mushy in this salad. I used firm pears without any soft spots or visible bruising on the skin. The same applies to apples.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist's advice.
I made this as a side dish for a friend who had surgery. They loved it and so did my very picky husband. . It was just as good the next day and our friends asked for the recipe. It's so pretty too.
Gretchen, I am so glad everyone enjoyed this salad! Thank you for your review and the 5-star rating! 🙂
So good, Julia! I turned up my nose at the idea of combining broccoli with fruit until the contents of my refrigerator told me what I needed to do. I sometimes serve over lettuce or with rotini as a pasta salad. I like it with ranch dressing or vinaigrette also. Blanching the broccoli does "up" the color and texture as well as helping it absorb dressing.
Former salad girl, long-time vegetarian and your new fan,
Lynne
Lynne, your thoughtful comment really made my day! ❤️❤️ So glad you love this salad. And very glad to have you as a new fan! ❤️ Wishing you and your family a very Happy New Year!
Unexpected mix of flavors was delightful. I increased lemon juice and honey, also sprinkled extra cashews on top. It becomes more of a holiday Salad by putting a few apple cubes around the salad, in addition to apples already in it.
Melissa, I am so glad you loved this salad! It definitely makes a great holiday salad, expecially with extra apples!!
Absolutely delicious, a big hit with the whole family. Will definitely be one of my go-to salad recipes from now on!
Tina, I am so glad this salad has become one of your family favorites! ❤️
I made this using only one large head of broccoli, and the rest as described in the recipe, adding dried cranberries. This salad was absolutely delicious. I will definitely make it again for my vegetarian granddaughter at Thanksgiving.
Donna, thank you for your rave review! ❤️❤️ So glad you loved this recipe. It makes a great side for a vegetarian Thanksgiving! ❤️
Very easy and very delicious recipe. Thanks
Donna, I am so happy to hear that! ❤️
How far ahead an this be made?
Thanks
Marilyn, I would make this up to 6 hours in advance for best results. You can actually serve this the next day, too - the apples will brown, but you can't see that with the creamy dressing.
This was delicious!! I will definitely make again. Thanks for providing the nutrition information, I looked but didn’t see what size a serving is?
Jenn, I am glad you loved this recipe. The recipe shows 8 servings (and the nutrition info is per 1 serving), but it's really up to you to determine the size of the serving.
I would love to make this salad with some salad greens added to it. Which greens would you recommend would go well with it?
Thank you!
Grace, I would recommend baby spinach, arugula, or butter lettuce. Enjoy! 🙂
Made this salad for the first time and it is amazing! Shared with my mom and she says it the best salad she has ever eaten. Definitely will make again.
This tasted wonderful! The only thing I did differently, was to add cut up cooked chicken breasts. You don't need to add the chicken because the recipe was great, just the way it was, I just wanted a little more protein. So good!
I love your recipe! Being food sensitive, this salad worked great! I made my own mayo, used walnut, broccoli was raw….yummm! Hubby had two helpings. That says a lot. We will be make it again and again. Thank you!!!
Hello,does broccoli has to been cooked prior or just raw? Thank you
I used raw broccoli here.
I blanch my broccoli for about 3 minutes. Makes it a vibrant green and still has crunch but softens the texture just a tad.
Absolutely delicious! My new favorite, especially for side dishes at get togethers as well as dinner or lunch!!
I used cherry infused cranberries and light soul cream. Does not disappoint!
Pat, your comment really made my day! Thank you for the 5-star review! 🙂
Julia, I hit the review button by mistake. I haven't made this yet but will
I hope you love it!
Have made this a few times now, loved by all. Works well as a make-ahead.
Kathy, I am so glad you love this recipe. Thank you for the 5-star review! 🙂
Hi! I can’t wait to try this recipe! Can it be made the night before? Should I hold off on the dressing until right before serving?
Elizabeth, you can add the dressing even if you make it the night before - this kind of salad can taste even better the next day. I would add cashews right before serving, though, as they will definitely get soggy.
This salad was great and my whole family loved it. My daughter is allergic to dairy so I dubbed the sour cream with white balsamic vinegar. It was delicious and we will have it often!
Esther, I am so glad you were able to adjust the recipe to suit your dietary needs. Thank you for the comment and the 5-star review! 🙂
white balsamic is great, I use it for marinating as well
Love this salad. I’ve been making a version of this for many years. Never put onion or cranberry in mine so I tried it & LOVE IT! the kick of onion & texture of the dried cranberries really elevated my versions.
Here’s a tip on the dressing …. Heat your bowl by running hot tap water into it, dry it, add the honey, it’s gently warmed.
Peg, I love your tip about using a hot bowl for making the salad dressing! Thank you for stopping by and sharing such a positive comment and 5-star review - I truly appreciate it! 🙂 🙂 🙂